By the time Jacqueline woke up, Billy had done some significant work on fixing up the nearby area. Since he couldn't leave her alone in case there were zombies, he couldn't go far. However, she had trouble resting with him working in the same vicinity as her. He couldn't say he was surprised, but that left him no choice except to move quietly into another area to work.Seeing Jacqueline rub the sleep out of her eyes, he asked, "Did you get a good rest?"At the sound of his voice, she jerked and stared at him with wide eyes before calming down. "Yeah, but I'm pretty sore.""It can't be helped. This place didn't exactly have people living here in mind," he said as he handed over a bottle of water to her.She only took a sip before returning the bottle to him. "Did anything happen while I was resting?""No, it's been relatively peaceful outside of the chaos happening outside," he said as he glanced toward the window.Jacqueline followed his gaze and grimaced. They were currently on the s
Billy snapped open his eyes and mentally went over his body's condition. While this hadn't been the best sleep he had gotten, it wasn't the worst. He guessed that he probably got maybe a few hours of rest. It wasn't a proper rest, but it would have to do for now. There was a lot of work ahead for them, so he needed to get up. In the distance, he heard a noise in another part of the apartment.As he sat up, he glanced towards the front entrance to see that it was still barricaded. Jacqueline hadn't left the place, so the noise was probably her doing. To be safe, he made sure to pull out the knife he had hidden away nearby. Slowly heading towards the sound, he stumbled upon Jacqueline swinging a knife with a grunt. Sweat was dripping down her brow, and her shirt was wet.Jacqueline didn't seem to notice his presence, and he wasn't in a hurry to get her attention. Watching as she practiced swinging the knife, he catagloued any poor movements. She must have been training since he had fall
The next few days were both a blur and moving at a snail's pace, but Billy was satisfied with his work. They were able to get some defenses going without drawing attention to themselves. All the entrances to the apartment complex were closed off. They weren't trapped there, but the duo was confident no one would be able to break in easily.Grabbing supplies was also surprisingly easy. The duo had managed to snatch up some more food and water, as well as other things like a purifier. With a purifier, they should be able to collect rainwater and be able to use it. What really made Billy happy the most was that he hadn't died and restarted. He had been worried it might happen and that he would have to do this over again.Nibbling on his beans, he barely noticed the message from the system popping up right in front of him. Jacqueline twitched, but she quickly acted as if nothing was wrong. Both of them knew what it was going to say, so they weren't in a rush to find out what it said. Afte
Billy and Jacqueline barely got to the third floor when they heard a noise. This wasn't some quiet sound. It was a banging sound. The duo glanced at each other, communicating with only their eyes about what they should do. They quickly came to a conclusion. Quickly and quietly, they rushed back down the steps to one of the entrances into the apartment complex.When they had set up the defenses, they had made it so they would be able to tell if someone or something tried to get up. The sound they were hearing was coming from the back of the apartment complex. Neither of them had any clue as to why someone or something would appear now. They had made sure not to attract anyone or anything to them.It was possible that they had messed up, but it was also possible that it had nothing to do with them. The only way to know for sure was to check and see what was causing the racket before it attracted the attention of nearby zombies. There was another banging sound, causing the duo to grimace
The duo stared at the two kids as they devoured the food set out for them. Well, at least the older one did. The toddler was going to be a problem. Billy didn't know what a toddler could eat, but he didn't think they could eat a can of beans. The toddler was more likely to choke on them. He glanced at Jacqueline, who was also deep in thought. Suddenly, the kid choked.Jacqueline reached out to him and said, "Careful. Don't eat so fast. No one is going to take it away from you."The child stared at her with distrust in his eyes and held the can close to his chest. However, the kid wasn't in a hurry to start eating again, so he might avoid choking to death. The toddler next to the kid gurgled as he patted the older kid's arm. Looking away from the duo, the kid wrapped an arm protectively around the toddler as he began eating slowly.Billy huffed. "Do you have a name, kid?"He didn't get an answer, and he honestly didn't expect one. The kid was extremely distrustful. It made Billy wonder
The duo shared a glance before Jacqueline asked, "What do you mean?""I have a power like you do," the kid said as he pointedly stared at Billy.Billy frowned. While he did hope that the kids had a useful power, there was something not right with the situation. It was awefully convenient that the kid popped in the middle of the conversation to volunteer himself. More importantly, neither of them had told the kids that Billy had a power. Unless the kid assumed everyone had a power, he had no reason to believe Billy had one.Another detail he didn't miss was how the kid purposely looked in Billy's direction or the words he used. The kid acted like he knew for certain that Billy had a power and Jacqueline didn't. Billy narrowed his eyes as he considered the possibility that the kid was a threat to them. He didn't like the idea of killing a kid, but he would do what he needed to protect himself and Jacqueline."I have the power to read minds," the kid said, catching the two adults off gua
"Ready to go?" Billy asked after checking that he had everything set for their journey.Jacqueline and Joshua nodded. "We're ready.""Remember the plan. We will only be looking for lone zombies to fight. If there are more than three zombies, we are to ignore them. Keep an eye out for survivors so we can avoid them," Billy reminded them.The others nodded as they proceeded to leave their base. Billy was still uncertain if Joshua was ready to fight zombies. He and Jacqueline had worked hard to train him the past few days how to use some weapons. Given his size, it was best if he used a long distance weapon to prevent zombies from getting too close to him. Unfortunately, there weren't many options.There was no way Billy would lend an elementary school kid a gun. That was just asking for an accident to happen. The kid was more likely to shoot himself or one of them instead of the intended target. Billy refused to hand over such a dangerous weapon. In the end, the best they could do was t
Billy had already sensed something even before she even spoke up. His instincts had tipped him off that something wasn't right. However, he didn't expect an arrow to nearly hit Joshua right in the forehead. If he hadn't pulled the kid out of the way in time, he would have died instantly. Without hesitation, he dragged the kid out of the open and into the closest corner.He scanned the area for signs of their attackers. However, he couldn't find any signs of life. The only clue he had to go on was the direction the arrow had come from. Billy didn't know where people got their hands on arrows, but there was a limit to how far they could go in the hands of an amuter. The number of people who could actually use a bow was small.Unless they did it as a hobby or actively participated in archery events, they wouldn't be very skilled with it. It was very different from a gun. Even if the person had trained using a bow, the bow itself couldn't be that good unless it was a specially made one. W
Hello everyone. I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along because it sure has been a doozy. Also, there are several things that I want to let you know.Billy's story has ended, and I'll have to admit that I didn't think it would end so soon. I had a lot of things planned, but after some careful consideration, I ultimately decided to end it early.Just like with Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race, I might do a rewrite or remake of it.If I do go through with this idea, then I'll just immediately go to eBook and paperback, and it would be very different from the one here. We will have to see, and I'll let everyone know.For now, I'll be focusing on finishing Johnny's story in Rise of the Commoner: Johnny Burns's The Lost Heir, which can be found here: https://www.meganovel.com/story/Rise-of-the-Commoner-Johnny-Burns-s-The-Lost-Heir_31000695378 .It's also going to be ending early. I'm not sure by how much. It might even be shorter than this one. We'
After hearing what the woman had to say, Billy released her. She took the chance to elbow him in the face, making his nose bleed, before putting some distance between them. There was a dark look on her face. He scowled, but he didn't retaliate for it. Instead, he went over everything he had learned from her. It had been a lot, and that had only been the surface."Well, what are you going to do now?" she asked."Well, I'll be accepting that proposal of yours," he said as he stood up and brushed the front of his pants.The woman huffed. "See. I told you. I don't know why you insisted on picking a fight when there was no need to fight.""However, I have some conditions," he said.She stared at him in disbelief before blurting out, "What?""You heard me. I won't accept your proposal without my own terms," he said."You can't be serious. You can't just add your own terms. You're already lucky enough to be spared in the first place," she said."It's not like you wanted to. You're only doing
"Hold it," Billy said as he held up a hand."Yes?" she asked."Why are you doing this? Why are you preparing to unleash a zombie apocalypse?" he asked."Why?" She took a moment to consider his question before saying, "It's for entertainment."Billy felt the veins in his head bulge from sheer anger. "What?""All of this is meant for entertainment for our followers. Unforunately, we've been having issues making it work, hence the number of tests we performed," she said."Followers? What are you talking about? Are you saying this is a game?" he demanded."A game? No. I guess you can view it as a game, but it isn't. You don't really need to know the details since you don't have the clearance for that information," she said.He gritted his teeth. "Then what can you tell me?""As stated before, we were running tests when we noticed some things were not progressing properly. One of them happened to be you," she said as she poin
Billy coughed up blood as he struggled against the giant zombie's grip. He could hear the others screaming as they fought off the other zombies that surrounded them down below. Unfortunately, he was in no condition to help them as he fought to stay alive. Billy couldn't believe how quickly things had gone horribly wrong.One moment, they were trying to stealthily sneak away. Then the next day, the giant zombie was rushing towards them like a maniac. They had tried to run away when they realized the giant zombie was coming for them, but it easily outpaced them. Whether it was because of its long legs or because it was simply faster than them, it easily caught up to them in no time.If Billy hadn't shoved Jacqueline away, she would have turned into paste beneath the giant zombie's foot. However, the force from its mere step had knocked everyone off their feet, giving the giant zombie time to grab him. The giant zombie's grip tightened, and he could feel his bomes creak i
A sound caught everyone's attention, and all eyes turned to the doorway. They didn't see anyone or anything, but after what they had seen from the system, none of them were calm. The tied up woman was even more frantic to get out of the ropes. Unfortunately for her, they held fast, keeping her from getting away. Billy vaguely wondered why she didn't use her power."We're going," Billy declared."Wait," the woman wailed. "Don't leave me."Billy didn't give her a second glance as he walked away from her. He didn't want to stick around to see if the noise was actually something to be worried about. Jacqueline's gaze shifted between the two of them. She clearly didn't want to leave the woman behind, but she could also tell that Billy wasn't going to do that. Then the last person any of them expected to protest spoke up."I think we should let her go," Joshua said.Everyone turned to him as Billy said, "What?""We should let her go," Joshua said.
"Are you kidding me?" the tied up woman shrieked, voicing what was on everyone's minds.What was the system thinking? This was basically telling everyone to die. Billy had no clue how many awakened there were, but their group had three awakened, if he still counted as one. That meant the zombies would receive a boost three times greater than if none of them were awakened, and what did they mean by boost? It was so vague that it could mean anything.Were the zombies stronger, faster, smarter, or what? It was impossible for anyone to counteract it without more information, which the system didn't seem to care to give. Billy could feel everyone's gaze on him, as if looking to him for answers that he didn't have. He could understand why Jacqueline and Joshua were doing that, but why was the tied up woman also looking at him?If anything, he should be the last person she should be looking to, considering how he had just threatened her. Well, he supposed that there we
Billy studied the woman's face as the others stared dabsmacked with their jaws hanging. He was just as shocked as they were, but he was better at keeping it off his face. Out of all the things he expected her to say, he didn't expect the woman to tell him that things had gotten off the rails for everyone who had gotten a system and power."Are you really telling the truth?" Billy asked.The woman frantically nodded her head. "Yes, I am. You've got to believe me. I have no reason to lie. When I realized that I could hide from everyone, a screen appeared in front of me, telling me I was one of the awakened."Something had seriously changed this time. In previous lives, no one could receive their power until after their first wave was over. He wasn't sure what had made such a huge difference, but that meant the system had no right to take his power away from him. If anyone could get their power before the first wave ended, he shouldn't have his power removed.<
"Billy?" Jacqueline called out.Billy frowned as he recalled telling her to stay quiet and out of sight until he said the coast was clear. She must have heard his knocking out the woman and got worried, but that didn't change how dumb it was. Jacqueline was basically announcing her presence to whoever was nearby. If he had been the one who had been taken out, she would have been in trouble.Even now, it wasn't a guarantee that they were in the clear just yet. He remained silent as he dragged the unconscious woman away while keeping an eye on his surroundings. After dragging her into another part of the house, he found some rope to tie her up with and searched her for anything valuable. Unfortunately, she didn't have anything on her except for a knife.He narrowed his eyes. It didn't make sense for someone to only go around with a tiny knife. Just imagining someone trying to fight a bunch of zombies with it was ridiculous. Even against another person was a joke.
Billy stared as his mind whirled with indecision. A morally good person would run back to save them because that was the right thing to do. Leaving a woman who was someone close to him and two children to the zombies would be a monsterous thing to do. On the other hand, a realistic person or someone with self preservation would immediately leave them behind.Honestly, if it wasn't for Jacqueline, he would have hightailed out of there without even looking back. However, this was Jacqueline. If he left, he didn't think she would follow him. As she was now, she wouldn't abandon the kid to save herself. She would die. There would be no second chance for her since this was his only life left. On the flip side, because it was his only life, he had to be even more careful."Billy!" Jacqueline screamed again as she knocked another zombie away.He gritted his teeth and made his choice. Billy rushed over and grabbed Jacqueline's arm before shoving her away. She stumbled b